By Ashley Buckowing

Going out to eat is fun for a variety of reasons. You don’t have to spend an hour cooking dinner or waiting for a roast to soak up all its flavors. You don’t have to keep getting up from the table to refill your water glass and your partner’s Coke. And sometimes it’s just the pure excitement of getting out of the house to try new dishes that you aren’t able to make at home. Sometimes it’s fun to find new favorites and get adventurous with your culinary endeavors.

Steaming hot pho soup at H’s Pho warms up cold winter nights

With winter in full force and the snow cooling your internal thermometer, you need something to counteract the frigid evenings. The best way is to try a bowl of pho. The soup originated in Vietnam and is a classic breakfast dish in Chinese countries.

Pho is a deconstructed type of soup. Generally, there will be — either in the soup or on the side — a pile of bean sprouts, Thai basil and other mixes of greens and spices that a chef adds to enhance flavor. It is suggested that you sip the broth, break up the spices, add to the broth, eat the noodles and then the meat.

There isn’t a wrong way to eat pho, but to get the full effect of the variety of flavors that pho soup has to offer, it pays to take time to savor the flavor-packed broth first. Sip the broth, add in the spices and keep tasting it until the broth is to your liking. Generally the noodles go first, but no matter what order you eat the soup, it’s always delicious.

H’s Pho offers a variety of pho soups, each including different meats. They come with the typical side of bean sprouts and basil and are also accompanied by jalapenos and lime. Pho is served in a large bowl and is sure to leave you pleasantly full and warm from the inside out. RELISH